Sabine Weiss is one of the most renowned photographers throughout time. Her passion for photography, her skill in capturing ordinary priceless moments of people from all walks of life and the strong emotions and messages that her photographs document and relay are her marks of genuine artistry. Her photographs truly live up to the adage, “a picture paints a thousand words”. Here are some of her obra maestra featuring life in France in a decade post World War.
A boy in a corner of Aubervilliers, Paris looks on at the camera, 1950. [Via]
A black cat, a famous symbol of ill-fate, pictured in the misty streets of Lyon, France, 1950. [Via]
A heavy mist creates dramatic silhouettes of passersby at a bridge in Lyon, 1950. [Via]
A man seeks warmth from a puff of cigarette during a cold Parisian night, 1950 [Via]
Ladies don their bonnets as they bask under sunshine in St-Tropez, France, 1950 [Via]
Snow blankets a field in Ile de France, 1951 [Via]
A horse in a cold field across a line of buildings in Porte de Vances, Paris [Via]
A group of boys playing is a common scene in the streets of Paris, 1952 [Via]
Dramatic photograph plays with light and shadows dubbed as Vers la Lumiere (Into the Light), 1953 [Via]
A man imprints his shadow in a street at Siene, Paris, 1953 [Via]
A single camera shot captures different stories in a single restaurant building (Le Restaurant Coquet) in Place Blanche, Paris, 1953 [Via]
Another common scene in Paris, two women talking eagerly while a dog waits in the foreground, 1954 [Via]
The French are known for romance. A photograph captures couples exchanging French kisses on Place de la Republique, Paris, 1955 [Via]
A boy in Paris smiles sweetly at the camera, 1955 [Via]
A little girl from Crose clutches on her lace bonnet, 1956 [Via]
A sight at the famous Parisian park, Jardin du Luxembourg, 1956 [Via]
These are but a few of the very dramatic photographs that the very famous Sabine Weiss gave to the world as a tribute to artistry. And here are some of her famous quotes that depict her love for photography.
“I take photographs to hold on to the ephemeral, capture chance, keep an image of something that will disappear: gestures, attitudes, objects that are reminders of our brief lives. The camera picks them up and freezes them at the very moment that they disappear.”
“I love this constant dialogue between myself, my camera and my subject, which is what differentiates me from certain other photographers, who don’t seek this dialogue and prefer to distance themselves from their subject”.
-Sabine Weiss